But it's also obvious the pressure is on general manager John Hammond and coach Scott Skiles to deliver next season.

Both Hammond and Skiles will be working on the final year of their contracts, with no guarantees beyond that. It already was known that Skiles had decided to return in the last year of his deal, but Kohl confirmed Friday that Hammond would be in the same situation.

"Scott is one of the best coaches in the league, and I'm very pleased he's going to be with us next year," Kohl said in a well-attended news conference at the team's Cousins Center training facility. "It's true about John Hammond. It's an outstanding team, I believe.

"This is a results kind of business we're in, and we measure ourselves by our results. We were supposed to be in the playoffs. We didn't get there. We should still be playing. We're not still playing.